Vaegir Rebellion
by Cerily
Summary: Sword is a simple merc hired by Prince Valdym to regain his throne. Together, the two will stage the greatest rebellion in Calradian history. But in order to win, Sword will have to use tactics and fight like no lord would even consider of...
1. Prologue

"So you want to know about the battle of Jeirbe Fields? Well, it is a simple story. But one that is also long as well. Sit down, take a seat. You're in for a ride now."

"To begin with it, as you know, I was working as a mercenary for Prince Valdym the Bastard. Fighting to reclaim his throne. I never had been one to like King Yaroglek, always came off as stupid and would lead the Vaegirs to doom. Hated him. So when Valdym came to me asking me and my men to regain his throne, I doubted I would agree when he first said it. I wasn't one to serve a man like Valdym. The few other times we had meet I clashed with him. One time, at a tournament in Halmar, I knocked him straight off his horse with one blow and then proceeded to slam him into the ground when he got back up. Still, at the feast afterwards, he was the first to walk up to me, while he was still bleeding slightly from his nose, tell me how strong a blow I landed on him. That's probably the reason I accepted his offer."

"He asked me to fight for him, to become his champion and marshal for the war to reclaim his throne. For once since the disaster that it had been fighting as a merc for King Graveth, I decided that I could fight for him until we were crushed and then I could just leave and forget about that chapter. So I accepted and he joined my group of soldiers. My army consisted of mercenaries. The Cavalry and the Hired Blades were the two factions who I worked with. As well as an arms dealer from outside of Calradia, someone I knew from my life before Calradia. The arms dealer got me in touch with the Sword Sisters group of soldiers. You know about them because now they are commonplace in Calradia. But before not a single one was in the land. My army was composed of half Cavalry, a third Hired Blade, and the remaining Sword Sisters. An strong, elite force."

"As well, a few skilled companions accompanied me. A girl named Ymira, Goddess of the Vaegir Rebellion. The architect Artimenner, Builder of the Vaegir Rebellion. The guard Bunduk, Bull's Eye of the Vaegir Rebellion. Together with those three and Prince Valdym, we sieged Alburq Castle first. The army chose to leave instead of fight us. I asked Prince Valdym if I could have control of Alburq Castle and Jayek, the village it protected. He granted me that right, and I spent two days there having men come from Jayek to join my army in an assault on Jeirbe Castle. Sadly, when me and my forces got there we discovered that the nords had sieged it."

""Then, suddenly, a large Vaegir army attacked. The two sides destroyed each other entirely, and we went in and cleaned up afterwards. The nords too had declared war on us as well. And then both King Yaroglek and King Ragnar came riding towards us. We were right next to Jeirbe Castle, and both armies had roughly 500 men in them. The two forces attacked us, but me and my army of 200 men hid in the forests as the forces destroyed each other. We attacked after the battle, cleaned up and then took Jeirbe Castle. It was the greatest fight of the war."

* * *

This will be more than this, this is just a short prolouge.

As well, this is NOT the style of narration I will use. It will be first person from here on out.

Signing off,

Cerily


	2. Far-Shooter, Twin Dragon, and Phoenix

_Alburq Castle_

_Day 57 of the Vaegir Rebellion_

"Marshal! Marshal!"A page came running into the main castle room, interrupting the game I was having with Prince Valdym. The two of us had been sitting at my table I had gotten built within the week of my new ownership of Alburq Castle. But neither of us can sit still and wait for my army to report back after their check of Jayek. The fighting had not gone good for us. First, we had captured Alburq Castle, yet been shut down in any attempt to do anything else. Currently my army had been going to Jayek constantly under the command of Bunduk, my loyal soldier. They had been recruiting new men from the town. Apparently a nord veteran soldier had settled in the town after his years of fighting under King Ragnar himself. I had recruited him as soon as possible, he trained men for me and in turn I paid him. Hopefully the Vaegirs wouldn't find out and kill him during the next raid they have.

But at the moment the messenger ran into the room I brought my staff up and blocked Valdym's blow. Then, I swung at his staff sending it flying across the room. He held onto it, but stumbled forward. I switched holding my staff to one hand and then thrust it in front of him. His chest flew into it and he tumbled onto the floor right over it.

"I win Valdym, now if you excuse me it appears we have a messenger." He stood back up, brushing off his pants of whatever dust settled on them.

"Yes, it does appear so."I glanced towards one of the guards standing at the end of the room by the staircase that led to the top balcony of this room. My head flicked back. The guard understood and moved towards the messenger.

Yet the messenger ignored the guard and went straight to me. The guard tried to grab him, suddenly it appeared as if this messenger was really an assassin. My staff came up to block any attack this assassin might have. The guard drew his sword, and another guard at the top of the balcony was grabbing his crossbow.

The messenger fumbled in his pocket while walking towards me, and I moved my staff to intercept him. Then he pulled out a note.

"My liege!"Valdym stood dumbstruck as the man handed the note to him. The guard put away his weapon, and I lowered my staff.

"Valdym, what is this about?"Yet he ignored me and simply opened the note, reading it apparently. So I turned to the messenger, "Explain! What is this about!"

But when the messenger opened his mouth to speak Valdym felt the need to interrupt, "You're...alive!"

Valdym turned to me while the messenger took a step back, "Sorry Sword, but this man should be dead. I am...surprised. To say the least."He turned to the messenger, "Kurt, this is Sword. The soldier I hired to reclaim my throne."he gestured to me.

"Hi." "And Sword, this is Kurt. My childhood friend. I would appreciate if you can perhaps leave us alone? We have some catching up to do."

"Of course Valdym."I turned to the door, "See you two later! I'm going to go join my army. Have fun!"I realized then, the guard was no longer there. Well the crossbow guard was still there but the other one wasn't, "Valdym, what happened to the guard at the door?"Valdym turned to me, and then the door.

"I don't know. He was here a few seconds ago. He must've stepped out."Yes Valdym. But for what reason did he step out?

"I'm going to check this out, see you two."I exited the room, quickly checking my surroundings when I did. The guard was nowhere to be seen. It's a good thing I always carry a blade with me. As well as a crossbow, and a shield. And bolts, and armor.

The guard appeared again, quickly dashing across a corner. I didn't notice it, but he must've turned the corner to this hallway and seen me. But why run from me?

Alburq Castle was nearly impossible to infiltrate. And if you did what would you do? With over 400 men stationed here it was hard to do anything secretly.

I had taken the Castle right after getting it and recruited an old veteran of the nord army from Jayek. He was a skilled constable, in a week he managed to get 200 men to Alburq Castle. But few of those men were trained. Yet he had trained soldiers during his time in the army. In a few weeks he had taken 200 men who never touched a blade and made them into men who could stand toe to toe with a huscarl. Okay maybe not a huscarl, but Miles De Gloucester was amazing when it came down to training soldiers. In all my time as a soldier only one man I had met had been good enough to do what he did...and that man was not a man I would use ever again. His tactics were...doubtful. His fighting style reckless...and he stole my best soldier.

* * *

_Outside Chalbek Castle, Nord owned_

"Lethwin? Are you there? My soldiers are ready to take the castle."A women walked into the tent that Lethwin Far-Seeker, claimant to the throne of the nords, was writing up a paper in, "Lethwin…"She sighed, seeing him busy writing something, "What are you doing?"Her voice was tired, as if she had been busy preparing for a battle

Lethwin took a break from his work to look at the women, "Sorry Jasmine, but...what were you saying?"Jasmine sighed, Lethwin was always so distracted by things. But fighting for him was work, and good work at that.

"We're assaulting the Castle, are you joining the attack?"

"Really? You're ready that fast. It's only been…"

"Thirteen hours."

"Yes, yes...I knew that…"Then a man came running into the tent, he was panting hard. As if he had been running very hard for a while.

"Jasmine! We're under attack!"Jasmine turned to him in no hurry.

"Really? Who's attacking, describe the banner."

"A crow! On a blue background."Jasmine laughed at hearing that, Lethwin looked worried.

"So the bastard himself has come to attack us...what a fool."

"JASMINE! That's the banner of King Ragnar! He'll destroy us!"

"Lethwin…"she sighed again, "In the short time you've known me, have I made a single mistake?"

"Well...no. But now is the time to start!"

"Trust me Lethwin, Sharpshooter doesn't make mistakes, I never have. I never will. I've been trained too well to make mistakes."

"Well, yes I know all about who trained you...and right now I sort of wish he was here with us…"

"Listen Lethwin, you don't need Sword here to win this battle. I'm just as good as him. He made me Sharpshooter, and after that I no longer needed him alright? We'll win this. Now, if you would follow me."I walked out of the tent, pulling my crossbow off my back. It was unique, specially made for me by...him.

This crossbow loaded three bolts, and then once I fired one it automatically replaced that bolt with another. I could fire three times before reloading, and my bolts were separated into packs of three, that way I could grab, load, and shoot. It was the only tri-shot crossbow in Calradia. Well, there was one other one…

* * *

Pull the trigger, one bolt into him. Another pull, second bolt. Third pull, and he goes down! I wiped my brow off, my brown hair had sort of stuck to my forehead from all the sweat that had gone there when the guard jumped me. I hate assassins, so sneaky and annoying. Yet they kept you sharp, which was good.

Then, Ymira came around the corner and nearly hit me full force. She was panting hard, she must have really been running hard. I smiled when I saw her back from the trip.

"Well, you guys got back fast."She shook her head.

"No Captain, just me...I have some...news."

"Well, what is it?"She turned to the side, her blonde hair was all stuck together.

"The nords...there's been a rebellion."

I sighed, "And why is this important?"

She gulped, "It's that...she's...Jasmine is back!"Silence filled the hallway for a few moments and then,

"You forget to say it was bad news."

* * *

"They're right behind us Jasmine!"

"Shut up Lethwin! Keep running!"The whole of King Ragnar's army, a force of three hundred men, was chasing after Jasmine and Lethwin. Of course, the nords don't believe in horses, so the two could stay ahead of them. But they had to stay close, but not too close. Too far away, archers. Too close, well Huscarls are amazing sprinters.

The two crossed the gap, entering Chalbek Pass. Chalbek Pass was a short, narrow pass that had two high cliffs on either side. A straight cut through the center, and in the distance the two could just make the village of Buillin.

Buillin was nestled among a series of cliffs that protected it from sea raiders. A small cove was it's only port, and in bad times that port had been a sea raider nest. The villages itself was quite the sight, old rustic charm combined with nordic architecture and nature.

In better times the two would be glad to see it, but for now all they cared for was the pass.

Jasmine spun around and pulled out her crossbow. Up above, the best bowmen, or rather bowwomen, in the Sharpshooters gave a one word order, "Fire!"

Archers and crossbowmen popped up, suddenly soldiers lined the cliff and arrows and bolts rained down into the soldiers. Jasmine let out three bolts into the head of three soldiers.

She killed four.

Ragnar's army, in their mad dash to get Far-Shooter, as the nords had taken to calling the pair, had let their shields hang. And it's a paradise for archers when a nord forgets his shield.

Many men fell to the ground, and the crossbows started to reload as the archers let off another round. Jasmine and Lethwin pulled out their melee weapons. Jasmine a sword and Lethwin twin axes. Far-Shooter stood waiting for the nords, who had raised their shields. Stupidly the soldiers had put their shields in front of them, not realizing the threat was above them.

Another round of bolts hit the nords, and more soldiers fell.

At this point Ragnar had realized that there were too many ranged soldiers above them to win this battle with his nearly all melee army.

But as the nords retreated men still kept falling. The Sharpshooters were renowned for their prowess at range. Jasmine, Sharpshooter, and her men, Sharpshooters, rivaled the Rhodoks when it came to distance combat. And the Sharpshooters did it with both bows and crossbows.

The Sharpshooters probably would've ended Ragnar, but they had to save ammunition. They still had to take the castle.

Jasmine and Lethwin stood standing as the nords retreated, "Told you to trust me Lethwin."

"I...I don't believe it…"

"You don't need Sword to win a war. All you need is the Sharpshooters."

* * *

"She's back! Jasmine is assisting Lethwin Far-Seeker in reclaiming his throne! From what I've heard, the nords call them Far-Shooter. And worse...Aron and Cerily are back as well…"

* * *

"I have met in my travels a certain Lady Isolla of Suno. Would you care to explain?"

King Harlaus was outraged at the mention of that name, "There are few who would dare mention _her _in my presence, but I will indulge your curiosty Cerily...only a king who is mad would dare place a women on the throne! They are not fit to rule, or to lead men!"

"So what about me?"I was calm, no emotion showed at his remark.

"You are an exception, Isolla is weak! You are different than most women!"

"I'll see you on the battlefield Harlaus."King Harlaus was very angry, and as I turned my back I heard his blade slid out. His swing was met with another blade, and the two rung.

"No one kills my sister Harlaus!"My brother, Aron, stood there like a wall between me and Harlaus. Harlaus recovered and swung again, but this time at Aron. With a flick of his wrist, Harlaus's blade went flying, "Now, we'll be leaving."

* * *

"The pair is helping Lady Isolla of Suno reclaim her throne."

"So both Sharpshooter and Twin Dragon are back?"

"Yes, and helping a claimant take their throne."

"Our little family still thinks alike."

"Yes we do, I have a report on both of them. Here."

* * *

Jasmine Desamaya

AKA: Sharpshooter

Brown hair that travels just to her shoulders, light green eyes.

Excellent with crossbows and almost as good with bows. Skilled with one-handed weapons and falters with throwing weapons, polearms, and two-handed weapons.

* * *

Aron Drose

AKA: The Claws

Black Hair that reaches midway down his head, blue eyes.

Excellent with two-handed weapons, so strong he uses a shield at the same time. Skilled with one-handed weapons. Falters with polearms, bows, crossbows, and throwing weapons.

* * *

Cerily Drose

AKA: The Brain

Black hair that reaches around seven inches past shoulders, usually kept in a ponytail. Never wears a helmet, and has blue eyes.

Excellent with bows and throwing weapons. Skilled with polearms. Falters withe two-handed weapons, one-handed weapons, and crossbows.

* * *

Sword Halstead

AKA: Phoenix

Blonde/Brown hair that reaches beggining of neck, brown eyes tinted with red.

Excellent with one-handed weapons and shields, as well as crossbows. Skilled with dual weilding one-handed weapons, and polearms. Falters with bows, two-handed weapons, and throwing weapons.

* * *

Sharpshooters-One hundred or so men, consisting of mainly archers and crossbowmen. No cavalry.

Phoena-Two hundred or so men. Cavalry and infantry comprise the main body, few archers.

Dragoon-One hundred and fifty or so men. Heavy cavalry, swadian knights, swadian man at arms, sarranid mamlukes, etc. Lighter cavalry comprises most of the rest, vaegir knights, khergit lancers, etc. Reamining is archers with a small infantry force.

* * *

"Why is there a report on me and my forces in here? And who the hell goes out and calls me Phoenix?"

"Oh...shit. I was just writing reports on our old companions and I guess I just...but all of us call you Phoenix! It's your banner after all!"

"I guess you're right. But anyway, it seems rebellions are all the rage nowadays, eh?"

* * *

End notes

Sorry for all the jumping around with characters and all that. It's just hard introducing four main character and their respective claimants. But I think it works...you can understand it right guys?

"Ph, I'm sure that they get it."

What the-Valdym! How did you get in here?!

"You left the door open, but nice room you got here. I approve.

Don't tell Sword about his! Or anyone else! Alright?

"Don't worry, your secrets are safe with me."

Now that that's over, let's talk about the chapter.

"I'm sure chapters after this will be more focused on one particular character."

You're right Valdym! In fact the next chapter will be about Aron and Cerily. This one's jumping around was just to introduce everyone.

"Shameless self-insert though Cerily?"

Shut up! I'm shameless…

"Although you're not actually a girl…"

I wanted to have two male and two female main characters, and I needed a female to match Lady Isolla. I wanted a male-male partnership, a male-female partnership, and a female-female partnership. Cerily was just name...and it works well with Aron. Who is there to balance it out.

Signing off, "No! Wait! Before you-"

Cerily


	3. Isolla and Her Army

**(I can't believe I'm doing this but...)**

Rindyar Castle, Khanate owned

"Thank you Kramuk Noyan. It is kind of you to house us for a while."Lady Isolla sat with me on one side, and Aron on the other.

"It is no matter dear lady, anything to bring down him. I hate Harlaus nearly as much as you do I'm sure."

"Oh yes, I know all about that incident. From what I've heard you captured this castle right under his nose."

"It is certainly a long story. But in short, King Harlaus happened to be in the area when I sieged this castle. I attacked immediately, the garrison was so surprised that they surrounded almost instantly. At the time, Swadia was making heavy progress into the Khanate lands. That was the turning point of the war, we pushed him right out of our lands and took this castle as well. Great war. Still hates me for it."Me and Aron laughed, we always did at a story which made fun of King Harlaus. Since the first day we met him he treated us like fools. Every Swadian did, except Isolla. She approached as we rested in the city of Tulga, our men recently had gone and hunted down the bandits in area.

But as we rested for the last night in a tavern, during our waiting for the night to end and all of us sitting around doing things, Isolla came up to the table me and Aron were sitting at and asked us if were, well, Aron and Cerily.

I glanced at Aron, the look of this women was different than most we would expect to see in a tavern. Clothes of a noblewoman and she carried herself like a queen. But neither of us knew of a noble who would enter a mercenary tavern.

"Yes, I'm Cerily,"Gesturing to myself I proceeded to nod my head while gesturing to Aron, "And this is my brother, Aron."The women, who I still had doubts about what she was, nodded. She was wearing a dress, a long frilly one with this weird pattern on it. It was a pattern you would expect on the banner of some war lord, red stripes on a white background. The thing was, I knew that the banner was from somewhere. I just couldn't place it.

"Yes, I've heard all about you two from Sanjar Khan. He explained he believed you could help me with a certain...problem."I glanced at Aron, but his eyes were focused on something far away. He probably knew that pattern I could tell, but he couldn't place the person behind it.

"Well it's what we do for a living. Sit down, we might be here for a while. Price and all that stuff we need to firm up before we can do anything. Typical business."But the woman shook her head as she sat down.

"Well, my request is different from any other request you've gotten."I couldn't help noticing how pretty she was, "I have a bit more of a professional and long-term job for you."At that point I couldn't help but stop here there, "Sorry ma'am, we can't be hired for life. We're one job, and one job only."

And then Aron stood up out of nowhere and pushed his chair so far back and the table rise slightly as he pounded down on it, "Isolla! King Harlaus's cousin!"He got it, and when I said it I recognized it too. Isolla's banner was red stripes on a white background, and she had been staying in Tulga for a while now. Couldn't believe we'd forgotten about her being in the city.

But the facts about her I knew off the top of my head complicated things. To start off with, she's a claimant to the Swadian throne. Pushed off her throne by Harlaus, and been searching for someone to reclaim it for her. Anything we did for her would be considered treason if Swadia found out. Either way, if Swadia found out or not, it was still dangerous. But on the other hand, if she ever did get the throne...I'm sure she would remember some people who helped her out a little. Not many do help a claimant.

And before I could help myself, "Sorry. We don't like to make enemies with Swadia."But Isolla simply nodded as if she expected that, and then she looked down and pulled out a blade at her side.

She rested it on the table, "Do you know what this is?"Both me and Aron looked at it, but I'm sure neither of us could see anything different than a normal blade. It seemed to be a sword, and just that.

"It's a sword."Aron said what I wanted to, but I knew that there was something more to this weapon. I just couldn't think of any reason why.

"Well, yes. It is a blade, but the important thing about is the symbol on the hilt. If you notice there's a red falcon adorning the hilt. That red falcon is the symbol of my father, the ruler of Swadia until his untimely death. But you see, this same falcon was the symbol of every king before that. And even the symbol of the great emperors of Calradia when they existed. It's a Swadian tradition that the king has this falcon as their banner. But Harlaus's banner is a black lion against a red background. Why? Because this banner belongs to one person. Me, and only me. He can't use this banner unless I die. His claim to the throne of Swadia is severely hurt unless he owns this banner. But he doesn't, and I do. Which means that-"

"That your claim to the throne is stronger and all that. But tell me Isolla,"Leaning back in my chair picturing the Nordic Emblem in my head, "Isn't the falcon a thing for the Nordic Emblem? Like the Swadian Lion is the Swadian Emblem, the Nord Falcon is a nord thing."Isolla nodded, as if she also expected that response.

"Yes, the Nord Falcon is the symbol of the Nords, but only after my father's death. As well, originally the symbol of the Nords was a bear, but after the Rhodok Secession from Swadia they switched it to a Snow Wolf. Until once again that emblem came into conflict with the the Khergits and their wolf. So the nords switched it to a crow for a bit, after Ragnar's emblem of old and King Ragnar's emblem. Now, however, it is a falcon. But I plan to return the Swadian Falcon when I have defeated Harlaus. Which is the reason I am here. I want to hire you two, to reclaim my throne."I nearly laughed at that. We don't work like that here at Dragoon. We kill bandits, chase outlaws and heroic stuff. But we don't reclaim thrones. Back when me and Aron served under...him we learned that lesson. He never worked for nobles that way, he would do small quick jobs for them. Clear a village of bandits or take out a bandit nest. But he never worked for them as much as he did for the people.

To tell the truth, I don't know why I still follow his teachings. After all, I left his company because of his style of not taking jobs that could pay off big and instead working for the little folk. But when we started our own mercenary band we realized what it was like to actually take help those little folk, instead of those big jobs. It may not pay as well but it sure felt good.

Of course, that meant that what she said next nearly killed me, "And I'm sure you'll say no. After all, Sword drilled into every single one of his men to help out the commoners. But really, he himself has realized his mistake. I'm assuming you two are familiar with Prince Valdym?"We weren't, but she didn't let us answer, "He's a claimant to the throne of the Vaegirs. Currently I've he's travelling with a band of mercenaries called the Phoena. I'm sure you two are familiar with that name?"Holy shit...the Phoena are what Sword and his soldiers are called. Or at least, what is men are called. He's actually called Phoenix, for how many times he's almost lost everything but risen out of his ashes and come back even harder and stronger. I wish I could hate him.

"Currently the Phoena are resting along with Valdym in Alburq Castle, one of the borders between the nords and the vaegirs. The Phoena, along with their leader Sword, have taken the castle. The group flies two banners, both equal in importance. The first banner is a white phoenix on a black background, the symbol of the Phoena. The other banner is a red jaguar, the symbol of Prince Valdym. I'm assuming you are familiar with how banners work?"

This time I didn't allow her to continue, "Yes, I am perfectly aware with how banners work. They represent a party and all that."

"Well, partly. But in essence, the point is that the Phoena are helping Valdym to regain his throne. Really, if you help me reclaim the Swadian Throne than all the little folk will live better. Do you see? But of course, I can't make you do anything, so I'll leave it up to you. I'll give you a few days, but I fear I'll have to leave town soon. Now, goodnight."

But before she could even get out of her seat I had made my choice, after all work had been kind of low. We hadn't really gotten much of a jobs, we'd be running a bit low. So low we had to move into the Khergit lands, which we didn't like to. Their bandits all had horses and so we had to chase them down with our horses. But if they turned around and got us separated a bit we could suddenly be in some real trouble. As well, sometimes they got some hits in that really hurt. All bandits occasionally got lucky but Khergit bandits seemed to get lucky more often than not.

"We'll take your job, just tell us what castle you want to take and we'll get you there."And as the words came out I could feel Aron's eyes turn to me, his confusion muddled by his belief in me. And Isolla was just looking at me as if she expected it, and then she stood up again and spoke three words, the three words that started everything, "We move now."

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you but really we must be going. We have a bit of a trek, Reindi Castle is our next stop. We would to stay for a bit, but, Cerily are we ready to move?" "Yes, we can move at your order." "Then, goodbye Kramuk Noyan. I am terribly sorry, but we should give the Swadians the littlest time to prepare."

"Yes, true. I will hope to see you when you carry both your banner and the Swadian banner, but I must leave now as well. I have heard that the Sarranid have attacked us once again, I wish you luck in your war."

"And you in yours, thank you Kramuk Noyan."And with that Kramuk Noyan exited the chamber, his robe flapping slightly as he exited.

"Cerily, Aron, let's head down to Reindi Castle."

"Yes Isolla."


End file.
